This invention relates generally to chassis assembly and retention thereof in an associated housing and, more particularly, to a multi-functional spring clip arrangement for such chassis retention which may further serve as the electrical contact interface between a battery power source and such chassis assembly.
Portable hand-held devices, such as portable two-way radio transceivers, customarily include a chassis assembly comprised of the electrical and/or electronic components assembled into operational circuitry to effect the intended signal processing functions. They also necessarily include an associated battery power source to provide the necessary operating power to such circuitry. The battery and the chassis are normally contained within separate compartments in an overall associated housing. The battery more often than not includes a slideably removable cover for quick access. On the other hand, radio chassis assembly does not ordinarily require quick nor frequent access but, nevertheless, some sort of chassis retention is to be provided.
There are, of course, a myriad of chassis retention arrangements known in the prior art. That is so even when considering only portable two-way radio devices.
Perhaps, the most commonly encountered contrivances for chassis retention are mechanical fasteners of one sort or another, such as machine screws. As such, they exhibit a number of disadvantages. They require considerable time and effort for manipulation in attachment and removal. They must be accessible from the exterior for manipulation by separate tooling devices, such as screw drivers or the like. However, they frequently loosen over a period of time. If mating with a non-metallic part, "plastic creep" may well occur giving rise to the aforementioned undesirable loosening.
Moreover, each individual retaining screw is but yet another piece part. Design efficiency dictates minimizing piece part quantity as much as possible without sacrificing quality. This can be most easily effected by designing in multi-functionality of component parts wherever feasible. However, it has been proven that screw parts are not well suited to providing electrical contact in many cases.